31 January 2016

Land Rover Defender Retired

How many vehicles are produced for nearly 68 years? The vehicle eventually named the Land Rover Defender was. It's longevity is no secret, neither that it is all over due to regulations. It's been kept out of North America for some time and now Europe too.

There is still plenty of the planet left but it wasn't selling in enormous numbers anyway so it had to go. Maybe if the production was moved to say India, it could be still made profitably. Whether that will happen, we must wait and see. For now a few pictures to say adieu.

Ah, the country life. So serene and with such a capable escort

It was classless too

We all know about it's off road prowess

The last model to roll off the production line

30 January 2016

UK Top 50 Car Sales By Model : 2015

The Ford Fiesta #1 for the 7th consecutive year

I coloured this list according to where the models are associated, not who owns them or where they are made. Germany is the biggest suppliers of cars to the UK so no surprise they also have the most representations here. The UK's contribution is paltry, but if you add four Asian and one US models then it gets a little better. A little. The new MINI had a good year, braking back into the Top 10.


Rk Model 2015 2014 +/-


1 Ford Fiesta 133,434 129,468 3.1%
Germany

2 Vauxhall Corsa 92,077 80,708 14.1%
16 Models

3 Ford Focus 83,816 83,454 0.4%


4 VW Golf 73,409 74,842 -1.9%
Europe

5 Nissan Qashqai 60,814 48,482 25.4%
13 models

6 VW Polo 54,900 46,158 18.9%


7 Vauxhall Astra 52,703 58,888 -10.5%
Asia

8 Audi A3 47,653 41,716 14.2%
9 models

9 Mini 47,076 35,053 34.3%


10 Vauxhall Mokka 45,399 32,918 37.9%
USA

11 Fiat 500 42,906 43,427 -1.2%
8 models

12 Mercedes C Class 41,821 37,882 10.4%


13 Nissan Juke 40,021 38,255 4.6%
UK

14 BMW 3 Series 36,728 37,953 -3.2%
3 models

15 BMW 1 Series 34,317 31,848 7.8%


16 Vauxhall Insignia 33,727 30,627 10.1%


17 Ford Kuga 32,936 23,647 39.3%


18 Toyota Yaris 32,855 30,359 8.2%


19 Peugeot 208 30,423 31,215 -2.5%


20 Mercedes A Class 29,727 26,365 12.8%


21 Mercedes E Class 26,634 28,372 -6.1%


22 Renault Clio 26,588 28,001 -5.0%


23 Audi A1 25,298 24,045 5.2%


24 Renault Captur 24,769 19,280 28.5%


25 Toyota Aygo 24,539 20,156 21.7%


26 VW Passat 24,065 19,669 22.3%


27 Hyundai i10 23,846 23,938 -0.4%


28 BMW 4 Series 23,704 14,809 60.1%


29 Kia Sportage 23,010 20,690 11.2%


30 Å koda Octavia 22,580 20,596 9.6%


31 VW Tiguan 21,889 16,373 33.7%


32 BMW 5 Series 21,428 20,441 4.8%


33 Audi A4 21,148 21,186 -0.2%


34 Range Rover Evoque 20,802 18,256 13.9%


35 Seat Ibiza 20,336 21,670 -6.2%


36 Ford Mondeo 20,286 13,794 47.1%


37 Seat Leon 20,226 22,605 -10.5%


38 Peugeot 108 19,482 7,377 164.1%


39 Citroën 1 19,105 14,265 33.9%


40 Toyota Auris 18,945 18,526 2.3%


41 Å koda Fabia 18,904 15,804 19.6%


42 Peugeot 2008 18,850 16,706 12.8%


43 Honda Jazz 18,465 20,019 -7.8%


44 BMW 2 Series 17,832 4,657 282.9%


45 Citroën 4 Picasso 17,599 23,913 -26.4%


46 Hyundai i30 17,392 12,290 41.5%


47 Volvo V40 17,068 17,649 -3.3%


48 VW Up! 16,904 22,072 -23.4%


49 L R Discovery Sport 16,485
n/a


50 Citroën DS 3 16,429 19,583 -16.1%


The MINI came in 9th

04 January 2016

Cyprus Car Sales : 2010-14

Could the Nissan Qashqai help Nissan win back the top spot in Cyprus?

You would have to be living under a rock not to know about the Cypriot economic crisis. car sales are an accurate barometer for the strength of, and confidence in, the financial system. Neither were good. Still Toyota coped better than most and came back from a huge deficit against Nissan to be number one in 2014. Near the top of the list Kia did well but VW, Mercedes, Ford, BMW and Audi had a run similar to Nissan.

Land Rover had a grin inducing 2014, leaping 10 places in ranking, with sales up 376%! Peugeot, Opel and & Å koda had a shockingly bad few years. It just goes to show that turmoil creates unusual amounts of change, with some doing well and others not.


Make 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

1 Toyota 1,139 933 1,036 789 1,052

2 Nissan 1,812 2,223 1,350 845 961

3 Kia 464 553 1,034 571 637

4 Volkswagen 1,175 1,171 756 566 631

5 Mercedes 1,051 762 566 481 511

6 Ford 1,204 1,625 1,267 701 479

7 BMW 1,233 868 570 318 444

8 Audi 1,042 864 513 356 405

9 Volvo 286 447 264 146 356

10 Honda 629 558 265 193 354

11 Renault 285 266 269 265 319

12 Land Rover 228 85 178 66 314

13 Hyundai 267 556 715 302 312

14 Peugeot 610 500 266 185 185

15 Citroën 173 111 143 96 156

16 Opel 782 577 300 170 150

17 Suzuki 337 330 222 118 145

18 Mazda 232 202 35 84 137

19 Fiat 238 198 166 109 124

20 Chevrolet 369 321 218 154 109

21 Porsche 71 89 53 40 104

22 Dacia


70 61

23 Mitsubishi 487 445 113 31 55

24 Å koda 377 395 253 109 50

25 Seat 157 162 105 43 41

26 MINI 72 135 101 62 36

27 Subaru 60 18 12 48 35

28 Jaguar 10 21 37 25 28

29 Lexus 12 32 17 12 23

30 Chrysler 63 21 23 27 22

31 Alfa Romeo 41 89 59 24 11

32 smart 27 39 24 11 11

33 Maserati 4 2 3 2 7

34 Saab 19 14 5 6

35 Daihatsu 35 28 13 5

36 Proton 31 15 3 1

37 Perodua 26 4



38 Other 13 6 13 16 6

39 Total 15,061 14,665 10,967 7,047 8,271

Data source: Ministry of Finance, Cyprus.